The Pascack Players, cast, and crew are preparing for the opening night of “She Kills Monsters” on Nov. 2, spanning until Nov. 5. Tickets are now on sale for students, staff, and community members. 

“She Kills Monsters” by Qui Nguyen, published in 2011, is set in 1995 in Athens, Ohio. The Hills production is rated PG-13 for simulated violence and adult language. Director Allison Andresini addressed the choice of the play and its purpose.

“Some students asked me to read [She Kills Monsters]. It is currently one of the most popular plays for high schools across the United States. And, it became really popular around the time that the pandemic hit. I think it has a lot for students to relate to. It’s about identity, bullying, and figuring out who you are,” she said.

Andresini elaborated on the PG-13 rating and its justification.

“This play is definitely geared towards a teenage audience and an adult audience…It has some themes that are geared toward teenagers, and it also has a little bit of language that would be inappropriate for children. It’s not anything crazy, but because it’s teenagers, being teenagers, they talk like teenagers,” she said.

Senior lead actress Bethany Chen plays Agnes Evans, a 25-year-old English teacher who lost her mother, father, and sister, Tilly, in a car accident. Agnes is an average woman catapulted into a hero’s journey, full of imagination, action, exploration, and grief. Chen expanded on her role and its depth.

“She barely got to know her sister before she died because her sister was a high schooler in the school where she was teaching. In an attempt to try to get to know her sister better [after her death], she discovers a Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) module that her sister wrote when she was alive, and she decides to, with the assistance of Chuck, the high schooler, to figure out how to play the game. So that, in this game, she can get to know her sister,” she said. 

Fellow senior lead actress Hadyn Hopper plays Tilly Evans, more commonly known as her D&D equivalent, Tillius the Paladin. Tilly is Agnes’s sister who died in a car crash at 15-years-old. Hopper pointed out the significance of Tilly’s character to the play.

“She is dead, which is important…She is the writer of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign, so she’s the creator of this whole world that the story is set in…Her life lives on through the character that she wrote for herself,” she said.

A play set in two separate worlds with dual characters is a tough task for the cast and crew. Hills senior and stage manager Rebecca Nicolas explained how the play will portray two worlds –D&D and reality– and the same actors playing different characters. 

“[The show is] entirely prop heavy with minimal sets…the costume design helps portray the characters. It enhances what the actors are doing with the character, and the costume designing is always amazing and phenomenal,” she said.

Sophomore running crew member and monster Melania Bui explained how the stage crew is getting more involved in this play than any other by dressing as monsters to add to the play’s allure.  

“I am going to be running around in the dark and rearranging the furniture for each scene. And I am also going to play a monster. I wanted to be a monster because it seemed pretty cool to do fight scenes and wear a costume,” she said. 

Not only does the set and costume design take the audience into another world, but references within the dialogue take those watching into another decade: the 1990s. According to the Pascack Hills Players’ She Kills Monsters Study Guide, the characters’ personalities and values stem from popular 1990s and 1980s TV shows like “He-Man,” “Thundercats,” “Quantum Leap,” and “E.R.”

References to popular music artists from the 1990s are Beck, LL Cool J, The Smashing Pumpkins, TLC, Indigo Girls, The Cranberries, Patti Smith Group, David Cole, and George Michael. The specific songs include: “Loser;” “Mama Said Knock You Out;” “Tonight, Tonight;” “Waterfalls;” “Reunion;” “Linger;” “Because The Night;” “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now);” and “Freedom ‘90.”

The 1990s nostalgia may excite many adult audiences, yet they are not the only group the show connects with. Junior Rily Alexander, who plays Lilith Morningstar, also known as Lilly, shared her opinion on the play’s relevancy among the Hills community.  

“I would say the show has aspects that appeal to all audiences,” she said, “It has the wit and references of the nineties. It has the humor of high schoolers and it has topics that every high schooler can relate to: finding who you are and self-worth. Since it jumps back and forth between the Dungeons and Dragons game world and the real world, it deals with aspects that keep the audience engaged while also dealing with real-life problems.” 

When asked to describe “She Kills Monsters” in three words, the cast and crew members found it hard to encapsulate the profound play. Yet, these adjectives included powerful, funny, impactful, nerdy, grunge, deep, magical, and quirky.